


Burned

by Rroselavy



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-01
Updated: 2010-07-01
Packaged: 2017-10-10 08:32:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/97717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rroselavy/pseuds/Rroselavy





	Burned

He never did like the smell of smoke. Nii leaned back in his office chair (Herman Miller Aeron with fully adjustable Posturefit; imported from the United States), cigarette dangling from his lips, a thin wisp of smoke curling upwards to dissipate around the fluorescent light that hung above him. He rolled his head from left to right and back again; the vertebrae cracked and popped relieving some of the tension that seemed to have taken up permanent residence. Somewhere in the bowels of the dreadful castle some godforsaken creature moaned in agony; an organic accompaniment to the sterile _drip drip drip_ of the slop sink in the laboratory. He really should get that fixed.

Smoking had been the one vice of Koumyou's that he'd despised. Well, he'd despised Kouryuu too, but _he_ was a different story altogether, and not everyone considered that a vice. A wicked smile curved the thin lips that cradled the stick -- how fitting that they'd both picked up the filthy habit of their master. He'd have to remember to remark upon that when he finally met Genjo Sanzo face to face.

His hand traced idly over his ever-present stuffed bunny as he recalled his one-time lover. Nii had come to believe that Koumyou only smoked because it annoyed the people about him; he certainly never seemed worried about his health, and the more Ukoku complained about the stale odor that clung to Koumyou's robes and hair, the more insistent the older monk became about smoking his pipe.

"Stubborn bastard," Nii grumbled as he fished out a packet of tobacco from the central drawer of his desk.

He'd picked up smoking after Koumyou's death, when he'd returned to Kinzan on some final business. He'd managed to sneak into Koumyou's rooms, which had been cleared of his few worldly goods; somehow his tobacco pouch had been left behind. And it seemed appropriate to Ukoku at the time to fill the apartment with the singularly worldly aroma of Koumyou. Nii didn't fancy a pipe at all, but he'd found a compromise in rolling his own perfectly symmetrical cigarettes, and sometimes when he smoked (the same blend of tobacco that Koumyou had), if he closed his eyes, he could imagine that he and Koumyou were still sitting together in the cool evening air of the foothills, watching the moon rise above the pine trees, enjoying friendly banter, while engaged in their cerebral game of chess.


End file.
